Hanger for electrical conductors.



'I'. WARE. HANGER FOR ELECTRICAL OONDUOTORS. APPLIoATIoN FILED Nov. 2z, 1909.

1,004,55 1 6 Patented Sept. 26, 1911.

I 67 i4 51 m nlllmnlmmmF'Qulmmualmulm@ COLUMBIA PLANOIJRAPII co..wAslnNOTON. l. u

UN ITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS WARE, 0F RACINE, WISCONSIN.

HANGER FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application Ied November 22, 1909.

To all whom Vit may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS Wanna citizen of the United States, residing at Racine, in the county of Racine and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hangers for Electrical Conductors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a hanger for trolley wires or other electrical conductors and has for its object to provide a hanger of new and improved construction which, in the event of the breakage of the conductor supported thereby, will automatically cut out of the electric circuit the broken portion of such conductor so as to prevent possible damage to life and property which results from the falling upon the ground or elsewhere of a wire charged with electricity.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a hanger of this character in which a perfect electrical connection between the sections of wire supported by the hanger is maintainable under all ordinary service conditions, that is, is maintainable so long as f the conductor is not severed or broken so as to bring the automatic cut-out feature into play.

A further object of the invention is to provide a han er of this sort which will be certain and e ective in its operation and at the same time economical to manufacture.

The invention in a preferred embodiment is shown in the` accompanying drawings, wherein y Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device. Fig. 2 a plan view. Fig. 3 a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 a detail view illustrating the knife-switch engagement between the trips, and Fig. 5 a perspective view of the contact plug in the bracket.

Like characters of reference indicate like partsin the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, 10 and 11 represent two pieces of wood, or other nonconducting materlal, which are secured together by the bolts 12 and 13 and by the forked cap-piece 14, and rivets 15, so as to constitute a supporting bracket for the operative parts of the hanger. The wooden pieces 10 and 11 are recessed at the bottom on their inner surfaces, as shown particularly in Fig. 3, so as to provide a slot 16. In this slot at the o posite ends of the bracket are `pivoted, or example on the Serial N o. 529,478.

bolts 12 and 13, the metal trips 17 and 18, which are grooved on their under surfaces, as shown at 19, these grooves terminating in the perforations 20. The sections 21 and 22 of the trolley or other wire extend through the grooves and perforations and are held therein by any suitable means, for example by the set screws 23.

The innerend of one of the trips, for example the trip 17 terminates in the tongue 24 which extends into the slot 25 in the end of the other trip, the trip 18, these parts Patented Sept. 26, 1911.

providing a knife-switch engagement be tween the trips when they are in their normal position. As this engagement is one likely to develop resistance in the conductor when the parts have become worn or if they should be mutilated, I provide means for making an electrical connection between the trips, when in their normal positions, at another place. Between the upper engaging portions of the wooden strips 10 and l1 iu semicylindrical recesses therein is arranged a contact plug 26 which may be put in place before the wooden strips are bolted intofh'e forked cap piece or hanger 14, this plug having at each end the contacts 27 preferably of greater diameter than the center portion of the plug so that the plug is held rmly in place in the bracket, which contacts are slidably engaged by arms 2S formed on the trips 17 and 18. Preferably, the engagements at these points are of the knifeswitch sort, the contacts 27, for example, being slotted at 29 and the arms 28 belng provided with the tongues 30.

The forkedV cap-piece 14 is formed with the threaded bore 31, or with other suitable means whereby the hanger can be supported. As the means for supporting hangers foi` electrical conductors are well known in their construction and form no part of my invention, such means are not shown in the draw- 1n s.

I have described the bracket of the hanger as made of wood or other non-conducting material. It is evident that it might be made of metal suitably insulated. The bracket may be reinforced, if desired, by the rivets 32 arranged just outside of the pivot bolts 12 and 13 of the trips.

With the device so constructed, if it happens that either of thesections of wire 21 or 22 should break, the weight of the broken section will cause the trip to be rocked to the position indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, destroying the engagement between the inner ends of the trips and that between lksaid trips having knife-switch engagement with said contact plug.

ltwill bey .prising supporting means, a pair of trips pivoted thereto, the inner ends of said trips the tilted trip and the contact plug 26. This will cut the broken section of the conductor out of the electric circuit. seen that the device is provided with two channels for the electricity, when the parts are in their normal position, so that if for any reason the circuit is interrupted at one point, or resistance encountered to the How of current at such point, the current may, nevertheless, flow freely along` the other path. The contacts bet-Ween the trips, and between each of the trips and the contact plug are sliding or wiping contacts, so that if the sections of the conductor are a trifle slack or are caused to move by the trolley wheel or otherwise, the electrical connection through the hanger is not impaired. `When the trips are' rocked to cut out a broken section of wire, their inner endsy come into Contact with the under surface of the bracket which forms a stop to prevent the' trip from swinging too far.-

While the hanger off my invention is particularly designed for supporting an overhead trolley wire and' by i-t-s construction is peculiarly adapted for that purpose, i-t is obvious that it might be employed for sup; porting any sort of an electrical conductor. I do not limit myself to the exact devices,

construction and arrangements shown as 2 modifications may obviously be devised which will come within the scope of my in- Vention.

l. A hanger for electrical conductors co mprising supporting means, pair of trips pivoted thereto, the inner ends of said trips having a sliding engagement witheach other which is destroyed when one or other of the trips is rocked from its normal position,- and means comprising a pair of slidablieJ engaging contacts for maintaining electrical connection between said' trips at a place other than at said inner endsy of said trips.

2. A hanger for electrical conductors comprising4 supporting means, a pair of trips pivoted thereto, the inner ends of said trips having a sliding engagement with eachV other whichV is destroyed when one or other of the trips is rocked from its normal position; a contact plug fand contact arms on 3. A hanger for electrical conductors comhaving ai knife-switch engagement with each other which is destroyed when one or other vof the trips is rocked from its normal posi- 'tiong a ,contact plug, and contact arms on said trips having k-nifelsi'viteh engagement Awith said plug.

t.- A hanger for electrical conductors com# prising a bracket consisting of two strips? ofk non-conducting material, the lower portions of which are recessed so that a sl'ot is constituted between the same, a forked cap piece, means for securing said strips in said vcap piece, trips pivoted in the slotted por;l tion of the bracket, the inner endsy of whichr have a knife switch engagement with each being formedr with perforations' to' receive the conductors which' said hanger .is ,adapted :to' support, and set screws for securing said conductors in said perforations.

5. A hanger for electrical conductors com-- prising supporting means, a pair of trips pivoted theretoI and adapted to` engage with each other, when in normal p'ositiom-so that they form an uninterrupted bridgebetween the conductors supported by theV hanger which is in alinement with said conductors, a contact element onr said supporting lincansabove said trips, arms on said trips-f adapted,y in the normal positionY of thev trips, to engage with opposite ends of saidy contaci;` element the trips being adapted when rocked from their normal positionVtodis-- engage with each other and t-o disengage their respective arms fromV said contact element.v

THOMAS WARE; Witnesses NV. C. McMAHoN,

EDITH. FELLows.

`Gopies of this patent may be obtained. for ive cents each',r by' addressing die "fomnissine f Pil-ts;

Washington, I'J".Y C. 

